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Weaving a narrative

Biographies are inspiring. They put together all the aspects of the life of a successful person right from their birth (and sometimes before that) all the way to their death or their current point in life into a neat little narrative that draws correlations and causations in an attempt to explain why and how these people ended up being as successful as they were.

The most inspiring thing about a biography is the narrative. The narrative of overcoming hardships, the narrative of recognising what they wanted in life and then achieving it, the narrative of changing the world for the better, the narrative of creating successful companies, the narrative of creating long-lasting art, the narrative of making a lot of money.

When we read a biography, we are often inspired to follow in the footsteps of the one we read about and do things the way they did and think in the way they did.

We try to re-live the narrative that we just read.

And in doing so, we weave a narrative for what is yet to unfold in front of us. We dream up things and make plans to do certain things in the expectation that it will take us down a certain path.

This often leads to frustration when things don't pan out the way we expect them to. Which is often the case.

It is natural for things to not pan out the way we expect them to. Because, there are uncertainties that we can't control for when we are weaving a narrative looking forward.

Looking forward, drawing up options and prioritizing them and acting towards them in a structured manner helps. Looking forward, we should not weave a narrative, but prepare ourselves for different eventualities.

However, as things occur, looking back, we ought to weave a narrative. And do it constantly. After all, that is how biographies are written. Looking back. Not looking forward.

Don't mistake the two.

Looking forward, prepare for what is to come. And looking back, weave a narrative.